


Four weddings plus one

by loulougoingsolo



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, F/M, Four + one, Friendship, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 11:06:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10718148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loulougoingsolo/pseuds/loulougoingsolo
Summary: Link is about to get married, in more ways than one.This is my submission for the Tropetastic Tuesday challenge #7, organized by the lovely TheGreyHenley on the Tumblr fandom. Our prompt for this week's challenge was to write a fic using the 5+1 or 4+1 structure, in less than 5000 words.





	Four weddings plus one

“Hey, Link? Are you ready to go, buddy? It’s time.”

“Rhett…”

“What is it? It’s a little late for cold feet at this point.”

“…”

* * *

## One

“Rhett! I met a really cute girl today. Her name is Christy. I think I like her a lot.”

Every time Rhett heard his best friend tell about yet another girl he’d met, he couldn’t stop himself from worrying. Sure, they’d been friends forever, but there were these moments, when Rhett wondered if Link was equally committed to their friendship. If he was as important to Link as Link was to him. Every time a new girl entered Link’s life, Rhett felt a small crack in his heart. Was this the girl who’d take Link away from his life? Rhett feared the day it would happen.

* * *

“Link, you wanna go see a movie later? I read a review about the Matrix, and it might be worth a watch.” Rhett didn’t want to sound too enthusiastic, but it had been a while since he’d gone out with Link, and they used to do it all the time before.

“Shoot, Rhett, I’m sorry, man! I have a date with Christy tonight. Maybe tomorrow?” Link was going through his closet looking for a clean t-shirt, so he failed to see the look of disappointment on his friend’s face. Or the shadows in Rhett’s eyes, as he replied: “Sure, tomorrow’s fine! Have a good date tonight!” Rhett’s voice sounded a lot happier than he felt inside.

* * *

Link came home later than usual. He could barely contain himself, all he wanted was to share his news with Rhett. He was exhilarated and happy as he rushed to the bunk bed where Rhett. “Rhett, wake up! I need to tell you something!”

Rhett had just fallen asleep after spending the night alone, mostly throwing a basketball into a trash can across the room. Gregg had asked him to go to a party somewhere, but he hadn’t felt like going. He wanted to dwell in his own misery, and being social was the last thing he needed. So, when he finally called it a night and went to bed after waiting for Link to return from his date for hours, he was already grumpy. Link waking him up at two a.m. didn’t make things any better.

“Dude, what the hell?! I’m sleeping!” Link felt a sudden flash of pain in his heart. Rhett was his best friend. All he wanted was to share the amazing news he had with the one person he loved possibly more than anyone else in the world. Why did he sound so angry, when he had such happy news to tell?

“Rhett, you won’t believe what happened! I proposed to Christy, and she said yes!” Rhett was now awake. He got up from his bed and looked at his friend, who was ecstatic and whose bright blue eyes were sparkling with joy. Was this the moment, when he would lose Link? The moment he had feared for ever since they became friends? The moment, when Link would say he loved someone else more than him? He did his best to brace himself, to be able to say: “I’m happy for you, Link. Christy is a great girl.”

“Rhett, you know you’re like a brother to me. I want you to be my best man at the wedding.” Link could see that Rhett was clearly upset, and more than anything else, he wanted to erase the sadness from his friend’s eyes. He wrapped his arms around his tall friend, trying his best to comfort him.

“Will you do that for me? Will you help me get married?” Link’s soft voice spoke so close to Rhett’s ear, further emphasizing Rhett’s longing to be held like this forever. Rhett’s heart ached at the memory of the day when they made their blood oath, agreeing to share everything. He realized this was the one thing they couldn’t share.

“Of course, Link, I’ll be your bestman. You’d probably lose the ring without me.” Link decided to ignore the pain in Rhett’s voice and just celebrate the fact that he was getting married. So, instead of asking what was wrong, he pulled away from the embrace and smiled at his friend. “About that…will you go shopping with me tomorrow? I need to buy Christy a ring, so I can lose it later.”

* * *

## Two

It was a natural progression of their friendship. They had been friends since childhood, and by the time they reached teenage, they knew each other inside out. They reached puberty together, and shared their first girlfriend as they shared everything. When Link needed to practice kissing before kissing his girlfriend, of course he turned to Rhett for help, and Rhett didn’t hesitate for a moment. Kissing turned into touching, and as years passed, they were pretty much doing everything together and enjoying each other whenever they could. They were teenagers and later young men with a healthy sex drive, and since they had been brought up to believe in not having sex with girls before marriage, they had sex with each other instead.

Deep down, both Rhett and Link were quite innocent as teenagers, and for a long time it never occurred to them that there was something wrong in what they were doing. When Link’s mom caught them changing kisses in Link’s room after school, she slapped both of them on the cheek with a look of sheer shock on her face. She spat out the words: “I never want to see you doing this again!” before leaving the room. It didn’t stop the boys from continuing whatever they were doing – but from that day on, they just made sure to keep it a secret they shared.

They both kept dating girls the whole time, but it was never anything serious, and they never went further than kissing with their girlfriends. Rhett went from one girl to another, never settling with one girl for more than a few months. Link seemed more curious about girls, while Rhett was mostly happy just talking and holding hands with them.

In college Link met a girl called Christy. She was blond and pretty, and having been lectured by his mom about not settling down and finding a nice girlfriend, Link felt it was his obligation to date her for a bit longer than most girls before her. He didn’t mind, as long as he had Rhett to come home to. In their blood oath many years ago, they had promised each other to stay together forever – they both knew they wanted to live like a real married couple instead of pretending to be just friends, but by then they also had realized that it was something their families would never accept. But the oath was their promise to always love each other, for better or worse, till death. There might have not been a minister present, but it didn’t make their oath any less true.

* * *

That one night started like any other Friday night. Their college roommate, Gregg, was begging for Rhett and Link to go to a party with him. He had a bottle of rum, and a determination to get drunk – and to get Rhett and Link drunk, too. Link had a date with Christy that night, and he didn’t want to ruin it with alcohol. Christy was not the kind of girl, who’d normally mess with drinks. “Hey, why don’t me and Rhett go to the party, and you can join us later with Christy?” Gregg suggested. To Link’s surprise, Rhett agreed to go, and Link, who was always happy to party, promised to talk to Christy about it.

* * *

“We can leave as soon as you want, baby.” Link had convinced Christy to join the party and he was looking forward to relaxing after a long week of studying. Someone offered them cups of beer first thing at the door, and after a moment of hesitation, Christy took a sip from hers. She was very much in love with Link, and even though she didn’t quite know if Link felt the same way about her, she was determined to marry him. She’d just have to prove Link she was what he needed. If a party and a few drinks made Link happy, she’d let him have them.

While Christy was planning her next move with Link, Link was looking for Rhett. When he finally saw his best friend and lover over the crowd, his heart sunk. Rhett was in the corner of the room, sitting next to Gregg, clearly flirting with him. Rhett’s hand was on Gregg’s thigh, and his head was bent close to Gregg’s in order to be able to hear what he was saying. A burning wave of jealousy blinded Link’s eyes for a second, and he stood still, thinking about whether to run to his friends and claim his ownership over Rhett, or to leave the party and Rhett altogether.

* * *

Rhett was tipsy. Gregg’s rum had already served its purpose, and they were now drinking beer to maintain the pleasant buzz. The music was playing loudly and it was nearly impossible to hear Gregg’s story about a girl he’d met the other day. So he leaned closer, accidentally placing his hand on Gregg’s thigh to support his tall drunken body. He was getting tired of listening to Gregg, but since Link was nowhere to be seen, he had no choice.

“I hope I’m not interrupting you two.” Rhett turned his head to see who was talking to them, and saw Link standing in front of them, with his eyes blazing with anger. Rhett was instantly delighted, seeing him there. “Glad you could make it, Link! Where’s Christy? Want some rum?”

Link was not the person to calm down quickly. Seeing Rhett so happy, and Rhett’s hand still on Gregg’s thigh, he was furious. He took the half empty bottle of rum from Rhett’s hand. If this was the way things were done tonight, he was going to beat these two in their own game. “You two keep doing whatever you were doing. I need to go see Christy’s ok. And Rhett, I’m not coming home tonight.”

* * *

It was surprisingly easy to seduce Christy. The rum she had kindly refused, was now running through Link’s veins, and Link felt careless and excited. If Rhett was allowed to make out with others, Link thought it was only fair that he could do it, too. After dancing to a slow love song, holding her a bit too close and whispering into her ear, Link had taken Christy away from the party. They were now in the back of some random pickup truck, kissing and groping each other. She seemed willing to go all the way, and Link, who had only ever been intimate with Rhett, was eager to try what it was like with a girl.

Afterwards, he wiped a lonely tear from the corner of her eye. It had been different, quick and slightly uncomfortable, but Link had enjoyed it. Now that the rum was fading away, he wasn’t so sure about how it had been for Christy. “Are you ok, sweetie? Did I hurt you?” Christy gave him a shivering smile and whispered: “It hurt for a bit, but it was worth it. I love you, Link.” Link felt bad enough for taking her virginity as a revenge for Rhett, so he had no choice but to respond: “I love you too, Christy.”

* * *

A month later, over a dinner, Christy told Link she was pregnant with child. The way Link had been brought up, he saw no other option but to propose. When he told Rhett about being engaged later that night, Rhett burst into tears, and so did Link. Through the tears he was barely able to ask: “Would you be my bestman?”

* * *

## Three

“We’ve put up with your behaviour for long enough. By the end of this year, I expect to see you with a girlfriend. People are talking everywhere about how you two are acting like homosexuals, and you know how God feels about that kind of filth.” ‘

It was rare for Link to see his parents together now that they had been divorced for ages. He was mortified by the words he was hearing, and he wished he’d had Rhett by his side to hold his hand. Without his lover and partner, he had so very little willpower to fight against his family’s homophobia. Being an openly gay man in North Carolina was unheard of, at least in their small community, and Rhett and Link had never met any other gay couples in college or anywhere else. It was their dream to escape this harsh reality to California one day, but first they’d have to get through college and their studies. Until then, they had agreed to live their life as discreetly as possible, to avoid public demonstrations of their affection, and to act straight during family gatherings. It was hard, but it was the only way to cope. But hearing the judgment in his parents’ voice was breaking Link’s heart.

“I’m sorry for being such a disappointment to you and to God. But I love Rhett, and I don’t want a girlfriend.” Tears flowed freely from Link’s eyes as he thought of not being able to be with Rhett. He felt torn in half.

“Here’s the thing, Link. Unless you find a nice Christian girl and marry her, you are dead to us. And just so you know, the McLaughlins are saying the exact same thing to Rhett at this very moment.”

* * *

It wasn’t hard to find a nice Christian girl in North Carolina. Christy was everything Link’s parents had asked for, and after dating her for a while, Link even started to love her. She was a beautiful girl, but every time he kissed her, he imagined he was kissing Rhett. He was often secretly grateful for the fact that Christy didn’t expect anything more than a kiss every now and then – sex before marriage was out of the question for a girl like her.

Rhett had trouble complying to the terms their parents had set. Though they still had each other, their love felt tainted by their families’ demands. But what else could he have done, but to agree. He didn’t want his family to shun him, neither did he want Link to go through with that. As much as they loved each other, they also knew that loving their families was equally important. That was the way they had been brought up.

The night Link came home after proposing to Christy, they sat together until dawn, just holding each other tightly. They knew things would change from then on. They would no longer be able to live together. Link cried more, he cried for losing his life partner, and he cried for fear of the inevitable wedding night. Rhett dried his tears gently with his thumb and kissed him once more. “Hey, it’s gonna be ok. Just remember, I love you, always. Now, are you gonna ask me to be your bestman?”

* * *

## Four

From a small child, Link had known what he wanted in life. He had never had a whole family. For long times, it had been just mom and him, and an occasional step dad. His own father was a distant figure, someone to meet over weekends and holidays, but not a real dad he could play basketball with, or talk about things like girls with.

Link had seen the perfect life his best friend Rhett had. Rhett had a family, both parents and a brother. He had regular nutritious meals, when all Link had was a tv dinner after another. So, when he’d grow up, he’d start a family of his own, a pretty wife and kids. Not just one kid, but a whole bunch of them. He had it all figured out.

Rhett was a good friend, who supported Link in everything – just like Link supported Rhett. Rhett was the only stable thing in Link’s life, he was always there, no matter what. In a way Link liked the thought of the two of them being able to always share everything, but it was clear, by the time they shared their first girlfriend, that it wouldn’t work in the long run.

They went through teenage having the perfect friendship. All the little fights they had were settled soon, and they made a decision never to go to bed angry at each other. It worked for years. Until Link met the girl of his dreams, and asked her to marry him.

Rhett was jealous over the time Link spent with his girlfriend, Christy. She was a nice enough person, and Rhett knew she was everything Link had ever hoped for, stable, pretty and faithful. Being engaged had changed Link somehow, and that was what upset Rhett. They used to be together all the time, but now Link was always going out with Christy, planning the wedding, meeting the future in-laws. There was always something else going on. Rhett missed him and their close friendship.

“You said we’d go bowling tonight. I cancelled a date with a girl for you.”

“Rhett, I’ve told you, I’m busy with the arrangements. I want it to be perfect for Christy. I don’t want you to cancel things for me.” Link was frustrated. He had a venue to book, and a band to find. His life was hectic enough without Rhett’s constant accusations about him being an absent friend.

“Link? Did it ever occur to you, that maybe I prefer hanging out with you over some girl I just met? You’re my best friend.” Rhett felt hurt. He wanted Link to need him, he needed to feel needed. Seeing Link choose someone else over him felt like being abandoned.

“Rhett. I can’t always be there for you. You need to find other friends, I’m getting married. I can’t always be the one for you.” Link left their room, leaving behind his shattered friend.

* * *

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I love you like a brother, you know that, right?” Link sat by Rhett’s bed, holding his hand on Rhett’s shoulder. Rhett was facing the wall, refusing to respond. “Hey, we can go bowling tomorrow. And maybe you’d want to come with me to see the band for the wedding.” Still no response, but Link could feel Rhett’s muscles relax just a little. “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while now…Would you be my bestman? I need you to be by my side. You’re my rock, Rhett.”

Finally, Rhett turned to look at his friend. He saw how upset Link was over hurting his feelings, how concerned he was for his friend. He saw how much Link loved him – and that was all he ever needed.

“Fine, I’ll be there for you. I should make you go down on one knee for this, but I’m gonna be a good friend, and settle for a pizza after I’ve beaten you in that bowling match tomorrow.”

* * *

## Plus one

“Hey, Link? Are you ready to go, buddy? It’s time.”

“Rhett…”

“What is it? It’s a little late for cold feet at this point.”

“It’s just…I feel like I’m doing the wrong thing sometimes. You know?”

“Link. I can’t answer that for you. You proposed to her, remember? She loves you, and she’s out there, ready to march in to the church, to marry you. You have to make your own decision this time, without me.”

“That’s the thing, Rhett. Without you is not an option. I never want to be without you. Ever.”

“You’ll still have me. It’s not like you’re leaving the country or anything. I’m your best friend, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“What if that isn’t enough? What if I need more? What if I need all of you? You, not her?”

“Link, you can’t do this now, man. You’re getting married to Christy in a few moments. You’ll live happily ever after, have kids, grow old together. All the things you wanted.”

“But I want all those things with you, Rhett. You’re the one I love. It’s always been you.”

A single tear was running down Rhett’s cheek. In his mind he could see this being true. This being the one universe that was reality. Growing up together, going to school together, working together. All that was good, but it was not enough. In this reality it didn’t have to be enough, they could have it all. Maybe this was the reality.

They both took a hesitant step towards each other, meeting in the middle. Link pressed his head against Rhett’s chest and wrapped his arms around him. The pink roses on the button holes of their jackets crushed between them, sending a faint scent of rose to their noses. They just held each other for the longest time, as if they’d been apart forever, for lifetimes. Link knew now, what was the right thing to do. It was to stay with the man he loved, always.

“Rhett, will you be my husband?”

“Yes, Link. I thought you’d never ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was the hardest challenge I've faced on the Tropetastic Tuesdays so far. I wasn't familiar with this type of fic writing, and I'm afraid I didn't do it justice. But, as always, writing this was fun, and that's probably the main point. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed at least parts of this mess of a fic, and please, comment below! Thank you for being such lovely creatures!


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